John Bazemore / AP

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick may not be a classic passer, but he does what it takes to win, writes columnist Mike Celizic.

You can nitpick if you want and point out that the Falcons didn’t score again, while the Jets got a fourth-quarter touchdown to cut the lead to 27-14. Brooks Bollinger actually threatened to score with less than four minutes to play, but that’s when the Falcons did something else good teams do — they made the big fourth-down play that finished off the win.

The Falcons ran for 205 yards, and Vick got just 18 of them. They’re averaging better than 188 yards per game, which is on pace to be an NFL record.

When you run the ball like that, your quarterback doesn’t have to do a lot. The Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer being about 10 percent the threat that Vick is. Opposing teams didn’t come into Baltimore worrying about how they were going to contain Dilfer; they didn’t worry about Dilfer at all.

But teams have to worry about Vick, which is part of the reason the other Falcon backs run so well. If you jam the line, you’re going to be waving goodbye to Vick as he streaks around an end.

And if Vick doesn’t have classic form in the pocket, he throws the ball hard and hits receivers on the run. He didn’t complete a lot of passes against the Jets, whose defense is still pretty good, but he completed the ones he had to.

The game was as ugly as a bucket of dead toads, but the Falcons didn’t let down against a wounded opponent. They jumped on Jet mistakes and turned them into scores. They stopped New York cold to open the second half, then laid a crushing touchdown drive on the Jets to finish the deal with nearly 22 minutes left to play.

In NFL-speak, it’s called taking care of business. Teams that play for championships are known for it. Teams that play for draft positions aren’t.

Last year, the Falcons got to the NFC championship game. This year, they may be ready to win it.

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